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The present invention relates to a computerized laboratory information management system.
As modern commerce depends on reliable and cost-effective methods for delivering products from suppliers to users, the availability of durable and reliable highways, roads and other support surfaces for vehicles is vital for sustaining a modem economy. To provide better support surfaces, highways, roads, and sidewalks are frequently paved with a layer or mat of asphalt concrete that is laid over the surface of the sub-base.
The concrete needs to be tested. The testing of construction materials is performed as a quality control and quality acceptance function (a quality assurance program) to test materials and workmanship quality. Typically, laboratory testing is performed for materials and in-place inspection is performed for workmanship. Laboratory testing of material quality directly measure the conformance with material specifications.
To ensure that the materials conform to the specification, various tests have been developed for standard test methods for Quality Assurance/Quality Control of soils, aggregates, asphalt, cement asphalt and concrete mixes. The testing technology is rapidly changing due to increasing demands in the material laboratory to provide new levels of service. These new levels of service must be more cost effective to decrease the operating expenditures such as labor cost and the like, and must provide shorter turnaround time of test results as well as improve the accuracy of the analysis. Modernization of analytical apparatus and procedure demands consolidation of workstations to meet the growing challenge placed on the material testing laboratories.
Many construction projects are performed today with contracts that include performance-based specification as part of payment incentives. Tracking quality control and acceptance results on a real-time basis allows contractors to keep material processes within specifications to maximize bonus payments as part the contract payment incentives. Also, real-time quality control tracking allows the contractors for avoid penalties for putting non-conforming material in-place. This reduces the amount of removal of non-conformance materials or minimized the payment penalties for materials outside of specifications.
In one aspect, a computer-implemented method to perform quality control on a construction material mixture includes accessing a server located on a wide-area-network; sending information collected from the material mixture to the server; applying one or more test methodologies to the collected information; generating one or more reports from the test methodologies; and sending the one or more reports to a project manager.
Implementations of the aspect may include one or more of the following. The method can provide an Internet browser interface to access the server located on the wide-area-network. The computer-implemented method can apply aggregate test methodologies. The aggregate test methodologies can include one or more of the following: Los Angeles Abrasion; Soundness Test; 24 Hours Water Absorption Sand Equivalent; Unit Weight and Voids in Aggregate; Specific Gravity, Water Absorption and Moisture; and Clay Lumps and Friable Particles in Aggregate. The method can include comprising applying soil test methodologies. The soil test methodologies can include one or more of the following: Soil Liquid, Plastic Limit and Plasticity Index; Material in Soil Finer Than #200 Sieve; Moisture and Density of Soil-Aggregate In-Place by Nuclear Method; Moisture Content; Specific Gravity of Soil; Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soil; Sieve Analysis; and Compaction Test. The method can include applying asphalt test methodologies. The asphalt test methodologies can include one or more of the following: Extraction; AES300 Emulsion Test; and ARA-1 Rejuvenate Agent. The method can include applying asphalt mix test methodologies, wherein the asphalt mix test methodologies can in turn include one or more of the following: Ignition Test; Actual Specific Gravity; Theoretical Maximum (Rice) Specific Gravity; Tensile Strength Ratio; Marshall Stability; Hveem Stability and Voids Calculation. The method can apply concrete mix test methodologies. The concrete mix test methodologies can include one or more of the following: Unit Weight, Yield, Air Content of Mix; Flexural Strength; Compressive Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens; and Air Content.
Advantages of the system may include one or more of the following. The system allows a user to analyze material testing data from beginning to end using one centralized resource. This makes the material testing process easier to understand for the user and allows the user to control and monitor progress relating to the analysis of the materials.
The system completes a material analysis transaction with many users, keeping track of what each user is doing and progress. The system allows the entire process to be accessible from one central location on a network. The system is also efficient and low in operating cost. It also is highly responsive to user requests.
Other advantages and features will become apparent from the following description, including the drawings and claims.